Does Shakib not have to stay in quarantine for 14 days?

Shakib Al Hasan will be raring to return to training in the BKSP from 5-6 September but before that, he needs to wait for his Covid-19 test result to be negative. 

After that, the left-arm allrounder will be training under the guidance of two of the country's most renowned and respected cricket coaches, Nazmul Abedeen Fahim and Mohammad Salahuddin in Savar. 

In other words, Shakib will be back in training just five days after returning back to Dhaka and he won't have to be in a two week quarantine period.

And as a result, questions are being raised about why Shakib doesn't have to be in quarantine for two weeks. 

According to the government guideline, anyone coming in Bangladesh from another country must stay in quarantine for 14 days.

Does the same rule not apply for Shakib Al Hasan? 

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) cricket operations chairman Akram Khan could not be reached for comment on this matter over the phone.

But chief physician of the BCB Dr Debashis Chowdhury has informed that this is the government's protocol and that the BCB has no say in here. 

He told The Business Standard: "We don't have any say in this matter. The government has a rule that anyone coming into the country from abroad must stay in quarantine for two weeks."

"The government will provide the instructions on what someone will do after coming to the country. If Shakib has returned with someone's permission, then it is a whole different thing. But we don't know anything of that sort. We did not have any communication with Shakib regarding this matter," Dr Debashis added. 

Shakib received permission to board the plane from USA only after he took a Covid-19 test. He will have to test himself for Covid-19 again before he can start training. But BCB's Chief Physician informed that Covid-19 testing was not a must but staying in isolation is. 

He said, "The government did not provide any instruction about Covid-19 testing. They provided instructions on staying in isolation. The instruction is that whoever comes to Bangladesh will have to stay in isolation for two weeks. But there is no instruction about testing, it is not mandatory."

IEDCR's chief scientific officer ASM Alamgir said that Shakib must stay in isolation for 14 days. He said, "Whoever comes back from abroad, must stay in isolation for 14 days at home or in a hotel."

Shakib can not start his training on September 5-6 according to government instructions. If he does so, he will not be following the government instructions. So, there remains a doubt about Shakib staying in isolation.

Bangladesh will face Sri Lanka in a three-match Test series in late October. The first Test will start on October 24 in which Shakib can not play for his ban but BCB President Nazmul Hassan has said that Shakib will be able to play from the second Test.

Shakib was banned on October 28 last year for failing to report corrupt approaches. Despite his ban being over on October 29, another year of suspended sentence will stay until October 28, 2021. During this time period, Shakib will have to take part in various anti-corruption events of ICC.